John Calvin and Roman Catholicism: Critique and Engagement, Then and Now (review)

The relationship between Catholicism and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century remains a point of debate and discussion. The last generation has witnessed a welcome and positive warming of the relationship between Catholicism and the Reformed churches. But what of the historical legacy of John Calvin himself? Does not the figure of the Genevan reformer cast a shadow over this emerging relationship? If Jerome Bolsec, one of Calvin's earliest and most critical biographers, is to be believed, Calvin was an arch-heretic whose obvious theological failings were made even worse by his deplorable personal habits. Not only did Calvin bed just about every married women in Geneva; he was also a notorious sodomite.

This excellent collection of essays by Protestant and Catholic scholars will help lay such stereotypes to rest. The papers, originally delivered at a 2007 conference at the University of Notre Dame, cover a good range of historical and contemporary issues, and represent a balanced and scholarly account of occasionally tendentious topics. The opening chapters deal with the historical context of the conflicts between Calvinists and Catholics. In an excellent account of early Roman Catholic lives of Calvin—including Bolsec's master-piece of historical spin—Irena Backus helps us understand the context that generated these highly critical works. The late George Tavard and others explore case studies that illuminate the specific historical circumstances, showing how local political concerns often exacerbated existing religious tensions. Charles Parker offers a particularly thoughtful essay on Calvinism and Catholicism in the Dutch Republic, noting the factors that both encouraged co-existence and called it into question. These essays demonstrate how the critical study of the past can cast light on the present, not least by allowing us to understand the intellectual complexity of past debates and tensions that are too easily described reductively as "religious."

The three final chapters turn to deal with explicitly theological issues. Carlos Eire offers a fine paper on Calvin's critique of idolatry, seeking to identify the theological basis of his concerns. For Eire, the origins of idolatry lie not in Satanic deception, but in the fallibilities and failings of human nature. Eire's attempt to locate Calvin's relationship to Catholic thought on this issue is interesting and ought to generate some good discussion. Randall Zachman, the editor of the volume, offers a provocative assessment of Calvin's ecclesiology. In addition to documenting shifts in Calvin's doctrine of the church and its structures, Zachman offers somewhat more speculative reflections on the pressures that may have led to these. Although the evidence is less than compelling, Zachman argues that Calvin's changed ideas may have resulted from dialogue with Catholics. Finally, Dennis Tamburello provides an evaluation of Calvin's sacramentality, especially in his doctrine of creation. Interestingly, Tamburello begins his discussion of this topic with an account of twentieth-century concerns over this question within Catholicism and Protestantism, before turning to Calvin for possible illumination. This fruitful reflection on the visible self-disclosure of God is itself an important indication of how useful Calvin can be to contemporary reflection on theological themes by both Catholics and Protestants.

These essays are both a testimony to the excellent state of Calvin scholarship, especially within the Catholic Church, and an important resource for the constructive engagement of the past. If these authors are right, the theological debates of the past need no longer be the cause of ecumenical friction. They might even become a source of intellectual enrichment.